Mail-bag crane.



PATENTED JUNE 26,1906.

0014B. MAIL BAG CRANE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1905 mnnew. a. umum 00,. mmmummmmsns.WASHINGTON D- c,

v N6.s'24,175.,

UNITED TA E T NT OFFICE- JAlVI'ES (J9EE, OF" SUPERIOR; WISGONSINZ-MA-IL-BAG G RA'NEr I Siaecificationgof Iiettrs' Patent Application filedMay'26 l905- Serial No; 262,393;

Patented-acne 26, 1906..

To all whom it 'may concern} Be it known that I, JAMES COLE, acitizen'of l the United States, residing "at Superior, in the county .of'Douglas and State of Wisconsin; have invented certain new anduseful lmprovements in Mail-Bag Cranes, of'which the following is aspecification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawings.v

The invention relates to mail-bag cranes, and has for one obj ect theobtaining ofa construction adapted for delivering. the mail bagstotrains traveling on different tracks;

. Itis a furtherqobjectto obtain a simple con struction the mechanismof'which is protected from the weather.

With these objects inview the" invention consists incertain novelfeaturesof' construction, as herelnafter set forth. v j

In the drawings, Figure 1 1s a sectlonal elevation of the mail-bagcrane. Fig. 2 is aplan view illustrating. its arrangement inrelation toa double-track railroad. 3 1s-a'"perthatthe center of the bag is struckby a pro- 6 jectingarm from the car a'nd'is doubled over the same. It isnecessary'that the laterally projecting arms on the crane. shouldextendinto close proximity to the car, andfitis very r important that thesearms should beremoved from this'position as soon as the bag isdelivered, as otherwise there is great danger of striking: anyprojecting object on thetrain. With the present construction the withdrawal of the arms is effected, first, by a construction which 'causesthem to automatically swing in a vertical plane when relievedof theweight of the mail-bag, and, second by a construction which causes therotation of the i post on which said arms are mounted to carry thelatter from a plane at right angles to the track to a plane paralleltherewith. Thus the withdrawal of the arms is doubly insured and afailure in operation of one portion of the mechanism cannot resultdisastrously by reason of the operation of the other portion of themechanism.

A is the vertical post of the crane, which is mounted in a base-sectionB, so as to be capable of rotation. This base B is hollow and forms aninclosing casing for a member 0, secured to the lower end of the post A,and a cofromrthe edge o'f this clined face d forms acamforrevolving theoperating stationary me'mher D, secured in position, as -byjiastening tothe railway-tie E. Themember D is so fashioned as to aiiordaraised-support for the'member'C one 'posi' 6o tion I and also to effectthe partial "rotation of' said member'Cwhen disenga'ged from saidraised"suppjort; As shownin Fig. 3, this is accomplished by providingtwo upwardlyprojecting tapering lugs ca and anin'ter5 med1ate V shaped'recess b; g The upper'ends of the lugs o have alimited fiattened area mc,-@upon'-which-the member: 0 may rest, and

member-C. The member 'C is preferably of the wedge-shapedformillustrated, havinga M sharpen'edor narrow edge e, adaptedt'o restupon-the flattenedportion c, and the ta ering sides f, which cooperatewith the the ines cl for effecting the rotation whendisengaged from thefiattened facer Thus; a slight rot'ary-movement ofthe post A' will besufiicient to disengage'the edge e from the face 'c', upon which thedownward movement of thepost Aandmember G will cause a rotation thereofthrough substantially ninety degrees.

For'r'aisin'g the postA' so 7 member 0 with themaised'flattened' faces con the member" D a lever G ne'ctedat gjto the post. This-lever'is n11crumed by resting pressing the; outer end of the lever the post will b'eelevated? To prevent" danger of' rain or snow accumulating in theannular recess between the flange handi'the post A, a cap H is -secure'dto the post above thelever, and

drain-apertures tare arranged to permit" the I e. mail b'ag-to bedeliveredis-heldbya pair of". later'ally-proj ectin'g. arr'ns- J and K,

escape of any water caught within the flange. 5 T

whichare'pivotally connected to the post A. i Q

The upper'arm J "has a rearwa'rdextension to form, in effect, a leverof' the first class, and this '1 oo rearwardly-proj ecting end of saidarm is connected by a link L to a pivot 7' on the arm K between itspivot 7c on the post and its outer end. The arm K is counterweighted, asby the block M, secured thereto, so that when free it will overbalancethe lever J and will fall into the position indicated in dotted lines.In so doing the link L will draw downward the rearward extension of thearm J swinging its forward end upward into the dotted no position. Thusboth arms when released will assume a position in substantial parallelasto engage the T3 pivotallycon- 85 upon an annular'fianggh at. the upperendof. th base B7 andjbryl livering the mail-bags is as follows: The

engaged from the arms.

ism to the post A and will therefore be withl drawn from proximity tothe moving train.

As has been stated, it is one object of the invention to use a singlecrane for delivering mail-bags to trains traveling on different tracks.As illustrated in Fig. 2, O and P are a pair of parallel tracks,centrally between which the crane is mounted, as indicated. The arms Jand K are of such a length that they will extend into proximity to atrain on either track when arranged as indicated in full lines in Fig.1, and the operation of demail-bag is first engaged with the arms J andK and secured thereto, as by the loops Z, which engage the ends of saidarms. The 0 erator then de resses the lever G, raising t e post A, andby then swinging the lever and sliding it upon the annular flange h thepost A may be partially rotated until the arms J and K project at rightangles to the track. In this position the sharpened lower edge e of themember C will rest upon the flat area 0 of the member D. When theprojecting arm on the car strikes the center of the bag, it will cause asufficient turning of the 0st to disengage the edge e of the member Crom the flat faces 6 of the member D, whereupon the inclinedfaces f (Iwill cause a rotation of the post A through a quarter of a revolution.This will swing the arms J and K into a plane parallel to the track, andduring the swinging movement the bag will bedis- Upon the disengagementof the bag from the arms J and K they will be respectively swung upwardand downward by the actuation of the weight M and by means of theconnecting-link L. Thus the arms will be arranged in parallelism withthe post A. It is obvious that the crane may be used to deliver bags totrains passing on either of the tracks and may be changed from operativerelation to one track to a corresponding position in relation to theother track by merely rotating the shaft A through a one-halfrevolution. In order to indicate to the engineer of the approachingtrain the condition of the crane, a signal-lamp Q is preferably mountedon top of the post A, and it will display different signal-colors,according to the position in which said post is turned What I claim asmy invention is 1. A mail-bag crane comprising a )ost, bag-holding armsprojecting laterally therefrom, means for automatically Withdrawing saidarms when the bag is disengaged therefrom, and means for reversing thedirection in which said arms project, whereby they may be alternativelyused in connection with trains traveling on adjacent tracks.

2. In a mail-bag crane, a base, a vertical post revolubly secured insaid base, a foot on said post arranged within a chamber in said base,and a supporting member for said foot having a bearing of limited areatherefor, and an adjacent incline for rotating said post when disengagedfrom said bearing.

3. In a mail-bag crane, the combination of a chambered base, a verticalpost revolubly secured in said base, a foot for said post within thechamber in the base and having a narrow under face, and a support forsaid foot within said chamber comprising upwardlytapering lugs having alimited flattened area at their up er ends for supporting the narrowunder face of said foot, whereby the descent of said foot whendisengaged from said flattened area will cause a partial rotation of thepost.

4. A mail-bag crane comprising a revoluble post, a foot at the lower endthereof, a support for said foot having an inclined face for causing apartial rotation of the foot and 0st, a base in which said post isjournaled, a ever pivotally connected to said post, and an. annularflange on said base forming a fulcrum for said lever in different pointsof rotary adjustment about the axis of said post.

5. A mail-bag crane com )rising the base B, the vertical post journaledtherein, the foot C at the lower end of said post, and the cooperatingcam-supporting member D, the annular flange h at the upper end of saidbase and the lever G ivoted to said post and fulcrumed upon said ange,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES COLE.

Witnesses:

J. Loom RICHARDSON J AMES S. RITCHIE, Jr

